


Oaths and Aliases

by Raaj



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Third Semester (Persona 5), akechi being...akechi, boos at Raoul being DLC, third awakening but for ren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:29:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26722936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: His friends have supported him throughout the year.  Ren wants to make sure they know he appreciates them.  After all, he knows very well just how precious bonds are.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Amamiya Ren, Amamiya Ren & Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Comments: 8
Kudos: 83





	Oaths and Aliases

**RA:** Meeting today. Leblanc@5.  
**RA:** Before we head to Maruki's Palace, there's something I want to discuss. Sumire, Akechi, it doesn't involve you, so if you want to come about 10-15 minutes later, that's fine.  
**GA:** In November, I would have found that suspicious.  
**RA:** You can hear it too if you want.  
**RA:** You'll probably find it annoying, though.

* * *

Futaba, Ren and Morgana were first to the meeting, of course, given that it was taking place in Leblanc. Haru and Makoto both arrived early, the third years giving warm greetings before taking their favorite seats. Yusuke was shepherded in by Ann, who seemed to be lecturing him about something--from what Ren heard of their back-and-forth, Yusuke had apparently gotten so bothered by the unnatural exuberance of some station regulars that he'd tried to remind them they weren't usually like that. Ren twisted some hair in between his fingers; he certainly sympathized with Yusuke in finding Maruki's reality unnerving, but as Ann was already saying, he should leave relative strangers be.

Akechi beat Ryuji to the meeting, arriving exactly at 5 on the dot. His greeting was curt, and he quickly settled himself into his own spot, glancing around. "Sakamoto holding you up?"

"Uhhh, you know he can be a few minutes late," Ann pointed out. "And you also know you didn't have to come yet."

Akechi sighed. "If he's late, he's holding up whatever Amamiya has to say to you all, which will delay us from actually getting down to business--"

The door burst open with a jingle. "Yo! Nice, got here right on time," Ryuji said triumphantly, if a bit out of breath. The panting made it obvious he'd been running.

"Two minutes late."

"That's on time to Ryuji," Morgana said drily to Akechi's correction. "So. We're all here, Ren--except Sumire, but you said this didn't concern her. What's up?"

"I thought Akechi wasn't s'posed to be here yet." Ryuji raised an eyebrow at Akechi, who didn't even return the look.

Ren huffed a short laugh. He'd just been trying to save Akechi and Sumire some time; he hadn't expected it to become such a thing. "It's not like this is a secret. You'll make him think we're plotting against him."

"Oh, we're not?" Haru said in a faux disappointed tone. ...Probably faux. She gave Ren a warm smile. "Joking aside, what did you want to tell us, Ren-kun? You have our attention."

"I wanted to thank you all," he said.

He got more than a few confused looks from the others for that, Ann hesitantly speaking up from where she was draped over the back of his booth. "Thank us? We haven't really helped you yet, though."

"Yeah... I got stuck in that fake reality...though I'm totally gonna make up for it in the Palace!" Futaba told him. "Get ready for some mad hacks!"

Ren sighed softly. He appreciated the apologies as far as they showed that the others cared, but they really were unnecessary, and a little worrying. "Okay...I also have to explain something," he said. "You guys, I almost got trapped in that reality too. Lavenza saved me. She might be the only reason I didn't fall for Maruki's reality."

"Lady Lavenza?" Morgana said, standing up on the table with interest.

Ren nodded. "New Year's Eve...I had a dream. Some of the details are foggy now, but...I remember Lavenza guiding me 'home' in the dream. And then Maruki's voice, saying he wouldn't force me if I didn't want to accept his reality yet. I asked Lavenza about it, and she said the dream was real. She guided me because I was in danger of being ensnared."

"So her guiding you in the dream had an effect on your mental state," Makoto said. "Or--she had an effect on your mental state that in turn caused you to have a dream symbolizing the effect?"

"Hm..." He should have expected Makoto might ask a difficult question, but he'd been anticipating emotional troubles more than having to figure out explaining how anything involving the Velvet Room and its attendant worked. "It could just be that her appearing helped warn me. Whenever I've seen her like that before, it meant something important was going to happen, and I needed to be fully aware."

"Lady Lavenza's appeared to you like that before..." Morgana's voice was full of wonder; he sounded slightly awestruck until he cocked his head at Ren. "You didn't tell us before, though?"

Oh, this was more the awkward question Ren had expected. And asked by the exact person he'd been most worried about. He rubbed the back of his neck. "...I mean, you're a Velvet Room attendant like her, right? I feel a little guilty she couldn't snap you out of it, too." Morgana seemed to have struggled with his memories that entire week. Helping him seemed like something Lavenza should have done, if she could have, which begged the question of if she'd used too much of her energy on Ren.

Morgana scoffed, and Ren immediately knew he'd worried too much. The dismissive sound meant Morgana wasn't taking it too seriously. "First of all, I'm not exactly the same as her as an attendant. Second, there's one very important way Lady Lavenza and I are the same: we're both _your_ attendants. You should consider yourself extremely lucky! Guiding you is our duty. If Lady Lavenza could help only one of us, it's only natural for her to choose you. Besides, it turned out fine, didn't it? She helped you, and you helped me."

Haru giggled. "Mona-chan, you're quite proud about being Ren's guide, aren't you?"

"Well, I shouldn't make too big a deal of it," the feline demurred. "It'd be bad if this guy got a big head."

Ryuji snorted, and Ann laughed. Yusuke hummed thoughtfully. "I'd say he's typically modest, but there have been a number of exceptional occasions. Usually as Joker, but there was also the shameless expression on his face just after he completed that burger challenge..."

"It was a cosmic achievement," Ren protested, which just made more laughter break out around the booths. The boy smiled, not really bothered by the laughter at his expense when it was all in good fun, but his eye happened to fall on Akechi, who was looking away from the cheerful scene with a scowl.

...This was exactly why he'd known Akechi might find this sort of thing annoying. The Phantom Thief looked down at the table and shook his head. He had told him. "Anyway," he said, his voice raised just enough to cut through the banter starting to distract everyone, "Lavenza helped me not fall for it from the start. But...I mean, I know I have wishes that Maruki could probably fulfill with his reality. If I didn't have your guys' support to believe in, I might have caved and accepted his offer."

"We weren't supporting you at the time," Ann murmured, her finger tracing figure-8s on the booth cushion. "You were really that sure we'd snap out of it, huh?"

"Exactly." And that had helped him wait, too. Seeing everyone so happy, it had been tempting sometimes to justify to himself that he was doing the right thing for everyone by taking the offer. But he'd known they hadn't actually chosen that reality. He'd known, if nothing else, he couldn't give in until they could all choose together, without being manipulated. "So...I want to thank you all for having been with me through this past year. You guys made probation bearable." He wouldn't have been able to do half of what he'd done without them. No, he wouldn't have been able to do any of it. He would have kept his head down, miserable, and plodded from day to day until he was erased by Yaldabaoth on Christmas Eve. He might have even welcomed that. Instead, they'd helped him find his strength again, and he'd triumphed over the false god.

They were still helping him find new strength. In fact...he could feel a familiar presence in his heart.

"What a sap," Futaba said, smiling. Then she blinked, and leaned across the table to peer more closely at Ren. "Ohhh?"

Ren smirked at how quick Oracle was to catch on, but he was already shutting his eyes, turning his attention to his first Persona. Arsene.

_**"You have made it thus far through the bonds you share. I am pleased you recognize their worth. These bonds...they are of greatest value, a treasure no thief would allow to be stolen away."** _

Yes...he wouldn't surrender them for any reason. Not even Maruki's promises of salvation. Not when he knew they could make their own future. He remembered the certainty he'd felt when he'd grasped the people's hopes and awakened to Satanael; they might be fighting for their own hopes now, but they would still win, together.

Arsene laughed, and Ren realized that he seemed different this time. Changed. _"I have a new alias. The next time you call me forth, do so by the name 'Raoul'."_

'Raoul'...so his Persona had evolved...that explained the new feeling in his heart.

Something felt different in his head, too...though he didn't think it had anything to do with his personas...it felt more concrete, tangible...

...There were fingers in his hair. Ren opened his eyes and looked up to see Ann's slightly guilty smile, like she'd gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Sorry!" she said. "You were just being so sweet. It was cute." She gave his hair one last tousle before taking her hand back.

"He was trying to concentrate on something, Ann," Makoto told her.

"No, it's fine," Ren said. It'd felt nice, anyway, despite the distraction. "That was just my persona evolving."

"I knew it!" Morgana and Futaba exclaimed at the same time, which prompted a brief back-and-forth of "I figured it out first!" "Are you sure? Because I'd bet--"

Haru laughed. "Ren-kun, you make it sound like such a small thing."

"You've all had yours evolve twice?"

"Haru, this guy's had like a parade of personas march through his brain." Ryuji shook his head. "He just doesn't get it." And then he grabbed Ren into a headlock, his hand messing up the dark hair far more vigorously than Ann's had. "It's a big effin' deal! You better show me it next time we're in the Palace!"

"Ok, ok--Ryuji..."

"Your probation will be done in only a couple more months, correct?" Akechi spoke up. "I would hope you have enough backbone to tolerate it that much longer. So what would your wish have actually been?"

The group quieted at that question. More than one person looked bothered by Akechi's tone, but Ren just sighed and slipped out of Ryuji's loosened hold. "You're right. The probation itself ends in March, and I've skated by so far, so it's not that big a deal anymore. At this point it's really...everything that came with it. I have a criminal record. There were...some falling outs, socially," to put it mildly, which was exactly how he wanted to keep it in front of his friends, "and I'm going to have to deal with that when I go back in March. Only until I'm done with high school, but I'm still not looking forward to it. I guess my wish would have been to never have been arrested. But...then I wouldn't have met everyone, so--maybe to never have to go back? One of those."

Akechi chuckled. "Not both? Maruki likes you. He'd probably be more than happy to fabricate a reality where you came under Sakura's care for innocuous reasons."

"Okay, ignoring creepy fake reality and doc for a sec," Futaba said. "Reeeeen, maybe you don't have to go back! There's still time, so talk to Sojiro!"

He shifted uncomfortably. He wanted to stay, but last he'd heard from his parents...well, they were expecting him back. The tone of his mother's voicemail had been so warm that he wondered if she really wanted him back or had been influenced by Maruki somehow, but still, he didn't want to cause more trouble for Sojiro than he already had. And he did want to patch things up with his parents, if it was possible. Sometimes the best path wasn't the easiest one. "This isn't the time to be making plans like that," he deflected.

"So your wish would be for yourself," Akechi said. He picked at the wrist of his black gloves. "How refreshing. I was afraid you might spout something selfless and maudlin."

"I'm not that virtuous," Ren scoffed, shaking his head. "Besides, all my friends and confidants are well." With...the obvious exception of Yaldabaoth, but given _what_ he had been, that was for the best.

Akechi's hands paused in their fiddling for a brief second. "So if that wasn't the case, then you would wish for them."

Ren shrugged. "If it was something serious...yeah." That wasn't much different from Ann's wish for Shiho, or Futaba or Haru's wishes for their parents, really. "That's not entirely selfless either. I enjoy spending time with everyone."

"Ha!"

Ryuji raised an eyebrow at Akechi. "Hey, what's your problem?"

"Oh, just amused how very selfish Ren can be," Akechi said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. Or...it mostly sounded like sarcasm? Despite his composure, something about his expression seemed genuinely upset. "I think I'll step out for a moment until Yoshizawa arrives."

Whatever the issue was, the chances of Akechi being willing to talk about it in front of the group seemed about the same as their chances of stopping Maruki without a change of heart. Not happening, so Ren let him leave without any objection.

Makoto watched him go, a small frown on her face. "That was strange. Do you know what's bothering him?"

Ren shook his head, and Morgana sighed. "It'd probably be easier to figure out what doesn't bother him. You guys were discussing pure hypotheticals, and no offense, Ren, but those wishes are pretty predictable for you. I don't get why any of that should have bothered him."

"Maybe he felt left out?" Ann wondered. "But that's kind of..." She grimaced. "I mean, you _did_ tell him to come later. Besides, he puts up with everyone's antics in the Mona Car."

"I think it's something else," Ren said. Akechi seemed to have been bothered by the idea of his wish being about a confidant, rather than just affecting himself. But Morgana was probably right about it being predictable for him, and Morgana had a further point in that they were just discussing hypotheticals. He hadn't actually wished for anyone, because all of his confidants had been fine as of New Year's Eve. Akechi might have been in prison, but...Ren had known as soon as they realized Akechi was the Black Mask that the best turn of events would probably see him behind bars. It hadn't really been upsetting when Akechi turned himself in on Christmas Eve; it had just been a relief to know he wasn't dead.

There was a thought there--he remembered Akechi saying some of the anomalies had started before the New Year's, hadn't he? Given the timeline of events, Maruki could have been starting to grant wishes as soon as Christmas Eve--but all Ren had to do was raise his eyes to the glass front door and there was Akechi, standing on the paved entrance. If Akechi was a wish, he'd disappear from Ren questioning him being there, right? So he was real. Ren didn't know any reason why he shouldn't be real and alive, though he wished Akechi had actually explained how he got out of the engine room. And why hadn't he shown up any sooner? He'd missed out on helping change Shido's heart. But Ren doubted he'd get a straight answer if he asked.

...Some of his bonds were definitely more troublesome than others. But all of them were important. Even the bond with Akechi, who'd tried his hardest to bring the Phantom Thieves down. Even the bond with Maruki, which had led to this new predicament.

They were all important to Ren...he was going to do everything in his power to hold onto them.

**Author's Note:**

> This...kind of became three things when it was meant to be just one, haha. This might read as unpolished and that's because I figured I'd do this in one day as a break from other fic and it. it went past one day, it's getting wrapped up so I can go back to my main fic.
> 
> I feel bad about Sumire not being in here. Akechi wasn't supposed to be either but he's rude and barges in wherever.


End file.
